Live: Al Jazeera coverage of Egypt’s growing revolution

[hava1]

I fell for disinf0..(fill in the blanks)

I read the news !

-----------------------------------------

I think your titles are slightly strange. Anyone who reads any news source, in those matters, should use care. But the spin itself is important. If Israeli news says there's a reactor in Syria, then most likely a bombing will follow.

On the other hand, maybe everyone should stop reading the news, that's a good advice.

[AlicetheKurious]

It seems there's a great deal of doubt about who those "soldiers" really are and who's behind them. In my defense, I should say that when the demonstrators began to chant against FM Tantawy, I left the demonstration, feeling uneasy with the tone.

It all began with a very large demonstration yesterday morning, within Tahrir Square. Around 30 prominent revolutionary speakers were crowded onto the podium, leading chants like: "The army and the people are one hand!" and demanding that the Armed Forces Council move quickly to arrest and try corrupt and criminal elements of the old regime. As they spoke, around 7-8 soldiers clambered up onto the podium and sat on its edge, their legs dangling. They were greeted with applause.

I later found out that the demonstration officially ended at 3:00pm and that's when the podium was left unattended. The men in military uniform took it over, and it seems that with them was a man recognized by a number of eyewitnesses as the secretary of Ibrahim Kamel -- bilionaire Mubarak crony Ibrahim Kamel is not only one of the top officials of Mubarak's NDP, he is widely considered to be a mastermind of the counter-revolution.

By around 5:00 pm, many of the demonstrators had left the Square, but around 1-2 thousand people were left. The "soldiers" claimed that because they had spoken out, they were now liable to be court-martialed and possibly even executed. They appealed to the demonstrators to remain overnight as "human shields" to defend them from arrest by the military. By around midnight, less than a thousand people remained, and the "soldiers" were inside a tent erected in the middle of the square.

At around 2:30-3:00 am, the army came to enforce the 2:00am - 5:00am curfew. According to eyewitnesses, they asked the people to leave. When the demonstrators refused, the army shot into the air. After that, the stories diverge into mutually contradictory narratives. It's a big mess. The army says that none of the men in the tent are real soldiers but illegally impersonated military personnel. The army says it fired no live bullets but only blanks to scare the demonstrators away. It says that a number of the demonstrators set vehicles on fire, including an army truck, and carried out acts of vandalism.

Non-military eyewitnesses tell various stories: some claim that the army shot live bullets and killed a number of demonstrators (including three of the "soldiers") in addition to wounding dozens of others. Others say that the demonstrators responded to the army's order to disperse by pelting it with stones, others say they recognized some of the demonstrators as individuals who had carried out pro-Mubarak demonstrations during the revolution.

Apparently, a very similar scenario unfolded in Alexandria yesterday, beginning with a group of demonstrators breaking away from the larger group and chanting rude and offensive slogans against FM Tantawy and against the army, which violates the code of ethics generally followed by the revolutionaries since January 25.

I've been watching live coverage all day and I still don't have a clear picture. The Ministry of Health has issued an official statement that one person is dead and 71 are wounded. No other information is currently available, but it's a very hot situation right now with feelings VERY high on both sides and feverish activity all around. I'll post again when I have a better idea about what the hell is going on.

[AlicetheKurious]

For a more panoramic view, the clever sandmonkey is at it again, providing a blast of fresh wind to clear away the fog. He's been quite remarkable since the revolution:

7 Popular Myths about the Revolution
April 7, 2011 By The Sandmonkey

There are a number of myths that seem to dominate the discourse in Egypt’s upper and middle-class, and subsequently national and international media. Given how frustrated I am by all the “experts” – foreign and domestic - pontificating really superficial analysis about something they can neither understand nor grasp, I have decided to write this post. I apologize beforehand for anyone who might read this and think my tone is condescending, because I am not being nor trying to be that and I hope you have the wisdom not to mix the message with the messenger!

1) The Army is co-opting the revolution/trying to establish another military dictatorship

WRONG. This is a prevalent one, and it has strong roots: the arrests of some protesters and their torture, the insistence on ending protests, and the lack of transparency of the Army’s actions. But please take a minute and stop thinking of the Army as a monolith or an institution, and think of it as a bunch of human beings. The Army is a conservative institution, it doesn’t believe in chaos, and has operated for 30 years based on direct orders from Mubarak. The supreme council is a bunch of 60 and70 year olds who are not used to deliberate amongst themselves to how best deal with civil issues, and they look at the world in terms of balancing risks. And now they have to deal with all the rapid pace changes in the country and the pressures both internal and external and they are working harder than they ever thought they would work in their lives. I mean, can you imagine how a day of any of them looks like? Between internal issues (security, corruption in every sectors, economy, foreign policy), international conflicts, hiring new people, dealing with international diplomats who all want to meet him to either discuss their concerns or make demands, the situation in the borders, running the affairs of the army, facing demands and questions and requests for interview by foreign or local media and then getting cursed out by name in Tahrir by 250,000 people last Friday. Can you imagine their schedule? And the average age is 60 something to begin with, so imagine how low their energy levels are.

The Supreme Council views his country as a powder-keg and they want to hand over the responsibility as fast as possible, hence the referendum, but until that day they believe, wrongly, that they are the only force that can keep this country from being ripped apart at the seams. You think they can take over the country? With what army? Against Egyptians after they have become organized and formed their own militias? How fast do you think such an attempted takeover will last, before they are all killed or face an inevitable insurrection within their ranks? They wouldn’t last 3 days, before every single last one of them would be killed. They joined the revolution and made the high-council in order to ensure their survival first and foremost. They are more scared of you than we are scared of them.

2) The NDP/Mubarak is still controlling the country

WRONG. The supreme majority of the NDP are shitting in their pants, every single one of them dreading the day their sins will be exposed to the public, and they are watching their leaders getting plucked and investigated one by one. The reason why the Military is taking its time with the big names is that it needs to 1) build up the civil cases against them and 2) to feed them to the public at the best opportune moment, which with mounting pressures is looking closer every day. As for Mubarak, just watch as his credibility is being destroyed, and how slowly but surely the perception of him as the traitor who helped assassinate Anwar Sadat in order to take power and neutralized Egypt for 30 years, during which he kissed Israel’s ass in every conceivable way, in order to ensure his survival and US support is being formed. Go to any newsstand any day and read the headlines. By the time he gets tried, and he will based on public pressure, he will be branded as the biggest traitor in the country’s history. Just watch.

3) The Islamists are hijacking the revolution

WRONG. The Islamists are getting weaker by the day. The Salafists, with their bushy beards, talk of bringing back the 7th century and violence against chirstians and women are already alienating and angering the supreme majority of the Egyptian public, to the point that they have angered the sufis- the hippies of Islam, who are 16 million in case you didn’t know- into rising up and standing against them, and they have gotten the Muslim Brotherhood to the point where they will tell anyone who listens that they are different than the Salafists, and that the Salafists are insane.

As for the Muslim Brotherhood, well, they are having their own problems. This organization who long has lived and survived underground is now being forced into the light, which isn’t exactly where they are most comfortable, because the cracks are now showing. At first they seemed drunk of the success of the referendum result and their belief that they are the best positioned group to take over power come the parliamentary elections, to the point that Essam ElAryan- thinking he is Safwat el Sherief now- started a laughably titled “historic initiative” of dialogue with the Church youth, as if they are representative of Egypt’s Muslims. But like any group that gets drunk on its own hype, it’s bound to start doing stupid shit and wake up the next day with the worst hangover ever, and it’s already starting. Internal divisions are ripping the MB apart, with the Youth announcing their defection and making their own group, with reformists such as AboulFoutouh publicly leaving them for being out of touch with the public, with the rising public hostility towards them since they can’t differentiate between them and the Salafists, and with them trying to appease the public by declaring their party platform will call for a “civil state” and will not have any conditions against women or copts running for President and thus in turn angering their own hardliners as well. The Muslim Brotherhood is at its weakest point and it’s being torn apart, and the egyptian people are quickly getting the point that they don’t want to live in a theocracy. Go to Upper-Egypt and talk to regular people, and they will tell you that they don’t want the Islamists taking over because they want the tourists to come back. Hell, did you know that in the University of Minya, during the first free Student Union elections, not a single islamist candidate won? In freakin Minya! So, please don’t think that your people are stupid or ignorant or easy to deceive by a bunch of Islamists. You are not the only one who “gets it”. Respect your people. They have earned it.

4) New Parties are the only way to save the next elections

WRONG! The new parties are important, but let’s face it, they are still organizing, being formed, formulating policies, trying to explain their ideological position, creating headquarters, reaching out to people and they are run and formed by cairene elites who think they are the only ones who can save the country and hold discussions in English about reaching out “those people” in the villages and the governorates, yet they have no clue who they are or how to talk to them. They are not the best way to save the next elections. The People are.

Unbeknownst to most of you, there is a new rising power in the Egyptian street and it’s not affiliated with any party of clique, and it’s called the people’s committees. At first they were formed to protect their areas, but during the referendum they started evolving into a civil force that help campaigns and did their best to monitor the elections. Now those committees are getting in contact with each other and forming coalitions. I have met representatives who have formed coalitions of 40 or 50 such committees all over Egypt, and they are organizing a conference for all of Egypt’s committee reps this June. Already, right now, there are 220 such committees covering 220 districts of Egypt’s 280, and that’s besides the independent unions and citizen groups that are getting formed everywhere every day. They are not waiting on us to save them or guide them, they already took matters into their own hands and we are the ones who are trying to catch up. And the way they operate, and their strategies for organization are impressive. A bunch of them asked for experts
on capitalist, socialist and Islamic economies to come to their neighborhoods and give lectures to educate people on their differences. This is happening while you are sitting in cafes discussing how you want to “spread awareness” to Egypt’s “ignorant population”. Well, if you want to do that, go to such meetings, find those people and ask them, humbly, how you can be of help and they will let you know. But you better not think you can deceive or bamboozle them in any way, because they will sniff you out very quickly. Go and get to know your people, and prepare to be floored by how intelligent and sophisticated they are.

5) Amr Moussa / Baradei is the new President

WRONG. The political Life cycle of any politician in Egypt is now 1 week, the same goes for Presidential candidates. The people don’t want someone who is as tainted as Moussa or as unable to communicate with them as Baradei. Chances are, Egypt’s real next president will appear sometimes by late august/ early September, after those two have been kicked and burned and faced a trial by fire unlike Egypt has ever seen. If one of them manages to survive it, then kudos to them, cause that means they have earned it. But this is far from being set by anyone, and any candidate who believes they have this in the bag already are also drunk on their own hype and are bound to wake up one day with the worst hangover ever wondering what the hell happened. Just watch!

6) International forces will destroy the revolution

WRONG. But not for lack of trying. God knows the Saudi government and Israel are both very worried about this revolution and will try anything- like funding salafis in the case of Saudi, or placing pressure on the US to support Amr Moussa in the case of Israel and both in order to ensure Egypt stays in the Sunni-Zionist alliance against Iran- in order to sustain a status-quo whose expiration date has long passed. Both of them don’t get that the rules of the game has changed, and that the virus of the revolution will infect their despondent and dissatisfied population as well. Hell, Egypt is so mad at Saudis for trying to pressure them into a conflict Sunni-Shia they have no interest in partaking in that we have now started reaching out to the Iranian government to resume diplomatic relations. Those are not the Mubarak days anymore; unless our sovereignty is respected, we can and will push back. Count on it.

And don’t think this is a victory for the Iran wing either, because Iran is also facing the prospects of their own revolution, and Syria is already dealing with its own, and the Palestinian people are already limning up to get rid of the corrupt leaders of both Hamas and Fatah. On March 15 there were huge protests by non-aligned Palestinian youth who are demanding the end of the division between the people and subsequently getting rid of those who have divided them in order to rule comfortably. The geopolitical map will look radically different in 2012. This virus will spread everywhere. Just watch!

7) There is doom and gloom everywhere!

WRONG! There is nothing but optimism and the prospect of a brighter future. Yes, there is economic instability and the economy will go down for a bit, but that’s only natural and part of the healing process. When you take an anti-biotic to cure you from a disease it is bound to keep you bed ridden and feeling tired for a few days so that you can properly heal, but you will heal and you will regain your full health eventually. We are completely unaware of what’s happening in the country because things are happening so fast that everything seems like it’s standing still. But the country is moving, the virus of the revolution spreading everywhere and changes are happening by the minute because 30 years worth of changes and reform are unleashed all at once. We are living in Hyper-time, and every person who sees a hole in the foundation of our country is working really hard and fast to plug it, and the future is looking brighter every day because of it.

Think of state TV employees who are protesting right now demanding that our national TV practices real journalism without an agenda. Think of the coalition of restaurant owners that is being formed in order to tell the municipalities that they won’t pay bribes anymore, and if they wish to shut them down they can go right ahead and face the wrath of all of their employees. Think of the students of the Lycee in Cairo, 6 and 7th graders, who did a 3 day sit-in protest demanding the return of a teacher that got fired for carrying an anti-Mubarak sign in Tahrir and forced the administration to re-instate him. Think of all the 8 and 10 year olds who went out with their parents the day of the referendum to vote and had the experience ingrained in their psyche forever, something we never had ourselves, and know that they will never allow that right to be taken away from them. Think of all the 12 year olds who are watching all the hot issues (secularism vs. theocracy, left vs. right, the role of the army, the role of the police, etc..) being debated all around them right now, and having their political consciousness formed right now and know that when they turn 18 it will be next to impossible for someone to trick or co-opt them. Think of all the 15 and 16 year olds who are watching the protests all around them and the lessons and mistakes that we are doing and think of what those kids will do the moment they get into college in a couple of years or when they join the workforce. Think of all your friends, wherever they are, who are joining and debating and talking and wanting to help and do something, and know you are not a solitary phenomenon. The Virus is everywhere. The Future is AWESOME. We will not save Egypt, Egypt will save us.

Now go and think of how you can help. And when you encounter people whose stupidity or irrationality or ignorance frustrates you, smile, because you know in 6 or 7 years they will no longer exist nor be of any influence.

Have a lovely day!

[JackRiddler]

.

Wow. That's the greatest thing I've read in weeks. Really.

Sandmonkey for President!

.

[AlicetheKurious]

His phrase, "we are living in Hyper-time," jumped out at me. Nobody's put it that way before, as far as I know, but that's a perfect description. We are living in hyper-time and don't want to blink in case we miss something.

[AlicetheKurious]

SOOOOOO beautiful!!!

This is the first demonstration truly in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo in over 30 years. (Previous demonstrations described as "in front of the Israeli embassy" were kept at a very big distance away). The embassy occupies the top floor of a tall apartment building in a cul-de-sac bordering the Nile. There's a large, armed check-point at the entrance of the street and parking is strictly forbidden within a several hundred meter radius in surrounding streets. I once had to visit someone in a neighboring building and had to take a taxi, since parking was impossible. Then I had to surrender my national ID card to the security forces at the check-point and have my purse searched. I had to explain exactly who I was visiting and why. I could only pick up my ID on my way back out. This was all just to enter the street! I felt I was entering Israeli-occupied territory on Egypt's soil and in fact I was.

Needless to say, any demonstrations were strictly verboten, in fact inconceivable, within kilometers of the embassy building.

Welcome to the New Egypt you murdering, sadistic sons of bitches! Not your "playground" any more...



Chants: "Oh, Tantawy, why are you silent? Are you with them, or what?" and "One, two, where is the Arab Army?" and "Oh Palestine, oh Palestine, we are with you until the End of Days" There's also, "We don't want him, we don't want him. The people want the ambassador to leave," and "Oh zionist, oh murderer, the blood of martyrs is not cheap." Also "Oh zionist, oh murderer, the blood of Arabs is not cheap." (They rhyme and sound more lyrical in Arabic). Later that night, as news reached the demonstrators that at least 20 Palestinians had been murdered by Israeli bombardment in Gaza, the chants became angrier (not in this video): "El qassas, el qassas, edrabou bel rossas," (Retribution, retribution, hit him with [a] lead [bullet]).

Another demonstration is announced, in front of the Israeli ambassador's residence in Maadi, on May 15. It's a large, fortress-like villa, with the entire street blocked off. Incidentally, unfortunately for the Israeli ambassador, there's an elementary school whose playground is right behind the villa's rear wall. During Cast Lead and other murderous rampages by the Israelis, at recess and lunch-time, the kids would stand in their playground and chant insults at the Israeli ambassador, much to his annoyance. When he complained to the Egyptian security forces, they'd shrug and say, "what do you want us to do, arrest little kids?"

On the other hand, this is all largely symbolic at least now, because the last I heard, the Israeli ambassador suddenly packed up and left in early January after the Israeli spy ring was uncovered in Egypt, and the remaining Israeli embassy staff were evacuated by helicopter as soon as Mubarak was deposed back in February. The Israeli flag was removed and no longer waves anywhere on Egyptian soil, so that's something.

The Egyptian and Palestinian flags tied together:

[Nordic]

Thanks for all of these dispatches, Alice. It's really appreciated.

[AlicetheKurious]

You're welcome, Nordic!

This is an interesting glimpse at Egypt's geopolitical future (I find it not only realistic, but very exciting!):

Egypt, Iran, and the Middle East's Evolving Balance of Power

[JackRiddler]

lupercal found this, posted it on other thread:

Deposed Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak speaks out for the first time since resigning

By Nina Mandell
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Sunday, April 10th 2011, 8:21 PM



Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February.

Now with a large amount of free time on his hands, ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak seems to be seeking out the spotlight again to restore his reputation.

On Sunday, he issued his first public remarks since resigning on Feb. 11, threatening to sue those who undermined his public image.

Speaking in a brief audio message on Al-Arabiya television, Mubarak blasted the Egyptian government's probe into his finances and denied any history of corruption and allegations he stole billions from his people.

"I will uphold all my legal rights to defend my reputation as well as that of my family," he said. "I have been, and still am, pained by what I and my family are facing from fraudulent campaigns and unfounded allegations that seek to harm my reputation, my integrity and my military and political record."

The longtime leader was ousted in February following prolonged massive demonstrations after nearly three decades in power. Since he stepped down, protestors have called for him to be arrested and prosecuted.

Al-Arabiya said it received Mubarak's statement hours before he was summoned by prosecutors looking into his alleged rampant corruption and the killing and abuse of pro-democracy protesters.

The allegations, which were widespread during and after his rule, have hurt the fallen dictator's feelings, he said in his statement.

"I have felt great pain – and still – due to the unfair campaigns and unjust accusations to which my family and I have been exposed, aiming mainly to endanger my reputation, question my honesty and mess with my military and political history during which I exerted big efforts for Egypt and its people … in war and peace," he said.

Mubarak promised he would account for all of his belongings, as well as his wife and sons' possessions, and denied holding any accounts or assets outside of Egypt. He agreed to let prosecutors contact all of the foreign ministries worldwide to confirm his claims.

It is widely rumored that Mubarak has millions in overseas accounts.

"This is for the Egyptian people to know that their former president has accounts only in one Egyptian bank, according to what I have mentioned in my final financial statement," he said.

Mubarak and his wife, who are banned from leaving the country during the investigations, have been living in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2 ... tml?r=news

[AlicetheKurious]

Mubarak's statement has made many people here furious and raised a number of very important questions:

1) Several times before, we were informed that members of the Mubarak gang were under house arrest only to find out that they were in fact free as birds and, in fact, notorious regime apparatchik Zakaria Azmy (Mubarak's Chief of Presidential Staff) arrogantly announced that no authorities had charged or even questioned him and that in fact he was still going to his office every day. Only long after the ensuing outcry was Azmi finally arrested and REALLY taken in for questioning.

Now this. Under Egyptian law, "house arrest" is subject to the same limitations as incarceration in a prison facility, meaning that the prisoner cannot make telephone calls or have any outside contacts without the express permission of the authorities. How was Mubarak able to record this speech? The recording was clearly made on professional equipment, and somehow transferred to Saudi Arabia's "Al Arabiya" satellite network -- all this without his supposed guards knowing about it?

2) Mubarak seemed very, very confident as he categorically denied that he or any member of his immediate family had any money or assets outside Egypt. He stated that he will sue anybody who has claimed otherwise. And yet, within one hour of his removal from power, Switzerland had announced that it had frozen Mubarak's assets in that country. Belgium later did the same. Hillary Clinton, during her visit to Egypt, stated that Mubarak had "billions of dollars" in US bank accounts. Britain has also frozen Mubarak bank accounts but refuses to divulge the amounts until an official Egyptian investigation proves that they have been illegitimately acquired. So, were all these officials of various countries talking out of their asses? How could they claim to freeze non-existent funds?

What makes the whole thing smell even more fishy is that Mubarak finally broke his 2-month stony silence only after hiring a crack team of British lawyers. During those same two months, every country that announced that it had frozen Mubarak's assets did so on its own: all stated plainly that they had received no official requests from the Egyptian government to do so. WHY THE HELL NOT?

3) Another remark about the timing of his speech: it came just as the relationship between the people and the Egyptian military hit the lowest point in possibly Egypt's entire history, and pushed it even lower. Now people are openly accusing the Armed Forces Council of conspiring with Mubarak to give him more than TWO MONTHS to hide the billions of loot stolen from the Egyptian people, while enjoying the comforts of his luxurious villa in Sharm el Sheikh under armed guard instead of a prison cell, where he belongs. This is in contrast to the brutal treatment by the army of unarmed demonstrators who are beaten, arrested, tried in military courts and sentenced within hours or days to years in prison with no appeal.

People are very scared and confused and this is creating deep rifts even within the revolutionary groups. The Armed Forces Council's actions are alienating people and provoking increasingly blunt accusations that they are secretly conspiring with the old regime. At the same time, many are warning that it's simply foolhardy and insane to push the military into open hostility with the people, in which case everyone but Egypt's enemies will lose big-time.

The latter explain that the AFC is by nature a secretive body, not accustomed to the limelight or to having its decisions publicly questioned or debated. In fact, believe it or not, Egypt has an actual law forbidding the press or the media to even discuss the army in any way. The country is dotted with those infamous "NO PHOTOGRAPHY" signs surrounding any installation related to the armed forces and violators are subject to prison sentences. Thus many people, even within the revolutionary movement are insisting that the AFC's secrecy and lack of transparency, its inability to explain its decisions and actions are being misinterpreted in an unfairly sinister way. It's just that the AFC was suddenly catapulted into a political role for which it is neither equipped nor qualified, at a time of great turbulence and uncertainty. They explain the slow progress of the prosecutions by saying that foreign governments will not return the money unless Mubarak and his cronies are charged and tried according to the strictest international standards of justice, a meticulous process that takes time.

Others, especially since this weekend, are questioning why those same standards are not applied to unarmed demonstrators, and pointing to the increasingly paranoid and conspiratorial tone of the AFC's accusations against the demonstrators which eerily echo those of the Mubarak regime. Pressure is growing for the AFC to resign in favor of a "Presidential Committee" comprising two civilians and one representative of the AFC.

Like I said, it's a big mess. Personally, I was very confused and didn't know what to think or who to believe until I saw this video. It cleared up a lot of things for me. Unfortunately, it's in Arabic and not dubbed or subtitled.



The first part is mostly statements by the officers (who did indeed turn out to be serving officers, mostly at the colonel level or below). They express their demands that all those who are responsible for the shooting and torture of civilians be arrested and tried, that those who are responsible for corrupting Egypt's politics and economy be removed from their positions of influence, and that the Armed Forces Council be replaced with a civilian-majority Presidential Council. Their fourth demand, that Field Marshal Hussein Tantawy be deposed as Defense Minister and Head of the Armed Forces Council, is the one that crossed the red line and according to many people, provoked the violent response by the army.

Beginning at the 4:00 minute mark, the video shows the demonstrators forming a human shield around the tent where around 20 officers are staying, at the center of Tahrir Square, and the attack by the soldiers. The end of the video shows the disbelief and shock of the demonstrators at the violence used against them. One of the protesters films them with his cell-phone, shouting, "You're the ones who are supposed to defend us? What did we do to you to deserve all this?" Two demonstrators insist that these soldiers couldn't possibly be from the army, but must be from Mubarak's Republican Guard. Another tells the camera that demonstrators who were wounded and helpless were taken by the soldiers. Finally, a young man at the end says, "These are not our brothers, not at all. They treated us as though we're strangers, not from this country." Another, draped in an Egyptian flag, says, "They shot us with live bullets and then chased us." We see a newspaper headline in which the Armed Forces Council accuses the demonstrators of working for the counter-revolution. The last shot is of the chant, "The people want the Field Marshal to fall," as newspaper headlines show that 2 demonstrators were killed and 71 wounded in the attack.

Although I am still not sure about whether or not the AFC is colluding with the Mubarak gang, what I saw in this particular video did convinced me beyond a doubt that the AFC needs to resign RIGHT NOW and hand over the reigns to a presidential council whose civilian members are chosen by representatives of the revolution.

The people chose Egypt's current prime minister and he's been doing an amazingly good job. The current level of anger and frustration with the AFC is very reminiscent of how people felt before March 4 under Ahmed Shafiq, the prime minister appointed by Mubarak. I believe that just as the explosive situation was defused by the AFC's removal of Ahmed Shafiq and his replacement with the people's Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, this whole situation can be resolved quickly by replacing the AFC with a presidential council led by civilians who are untainted with any connection to the Mubarak regime.

I have to say here that mine is a minority view, even among the revolutionaries themselves: their official demands are 1) that the AFC move quickly to arrest and try Mubarak and his wife and sons, and other high-level members of their criminal gang; 2) that the AFC remove all Mubarak appointees from their influential media, academic and government positions at the national, provincial and local levels, and 3) that political detainees be released and civilians not be tried in military courts. They're carefully steering clear of any accusation or expression of hostility toward the AFC itself.

[undead]

His phrase, "we are living in Hyper-time," jumped out at me. Nobody's put it that way before, as far as I know, but that's a perfect description. We are living in hyper-time and don't want to blink in case we miss something.

http://deoxy.org/mckenna.htm

[AlicetheKurious]

Prosecutor asks US to help retrieve Mubarak's stolen billions
Ahmed Zaki Osman
Sun, 10/04/2011 - 16:12


Deposed President Hosni Mubarak's family including; his wife Suzanne Saleh Thabet, his two sons Gamal and Alaa, his two daughters in-law Haidy Rashekh and Khadiga al-Gammal.
Photographed by Al-Masry Al-Youm Staff

Egypt's chief prosecutor has asked the United States to provide assistance in retrieving US$700 billion (!!!!) of assets stolen by former President Hosni Mubarak and members of his family, leading American newspaper Washington Post said on Saturday.

In a 12-page document, written in Arabic and titled “Request for Judicial Assistance”, which was obtained by the US-based paper, Public Prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud told US officials that Mubarak and his sons, Gamal and Alaa, may have violated laws prohibiting the “seizing of public funds and profiteering and abuse of power”, using complex business schemes to divert cash, gold and other state-owned valuables to offshore companies and personal accounts.

Mahmoud alleges that more than US$700 billion has been appropriated by the Mubarak family, which is far more than earlier estimates for Mubarak's wealth, which ranged from $1 billion to US$70 billion.

Thousands of protesters on Friday packed Cairo's Tahrir Square, piling pressure on the ruling military council to meet their demand that Mubarak be prosecuted.

On Sunday, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) said that some Arab countries had offered incentive packages to support the Egyptian economy under the condition that Mubarak be brought before court. (??????)

Mubarak and his family have been living in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh since he left Cairo. The military said the 82-year-old president, himself a former senior military officer, is banned from leaving the country.

An American judicial delegation to Egypt said on Thursday that Washington is keen on cooperating with the Egyptian authorities to return the assets of the former president, his family and his colleagues from the former regime.

The SCAF, which has been ruling Egypt since Mubarak stepped down on 11 February, ordered the formation of a judicial committee, led by Assem al-Gohary, to investigate reports of the former regime's profiteering. During a meeting with al-Gohari, the American delegation affirmed its commitment to the United Nations Convention against Corruption and to returning Mubarak's assets to the people.

The US Embassy in Cairo on Friday issued a statement saying officials were “vigorously pursuing all leads provided by the Egyptian Government with regard to freezing assets of former Egyptian officials."

The Washington Post noted that the Egyptian document mixes the credible with the questionable. A week before Mubarak’s stepped down, the leading British paper The Guardian alleged that Mubarak’s wealth could be as high as US$70 billion. It portrays Mubarak’s sons as skilled businessmen who manipulated the country’s financial system, using offshore front companies to hide ill-gotten gains.

The document also alleges that the Mubaraks “seized public monies and partnered with businessmen, investors, importers and exporters by force to realize profit without basis other than that they are the sons of the president.”

Moreover, Mahmoud has said that the sons and their partners purchased “one of the debts of Egypt for 35 percent of its value and then collected the full 100 percent value from the Egyptian state budget.”

The prosecutor’s request cites allegations that Gamal Mubarak used his position on the board of the Egyptian Central Bank to withdraw 75 tons of Egyptian gold held by the US Federal Reserve.

[23]

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id ... _article=1
Egypt blogger gets 3 years for criticising military: lawyer

A military court has jailed a blogger for three years for criticising the armed forces that have ruled Egypt since president Hosni Mubarak's ouster in February, in a decision slammed by rights groups on Monday.

"Regrettably, the Nasr City military court sentenced Maikel Nabil to three years in prison," the blogger's lawyer Gamal Eid told AFP.

"The lawyers were not present, the verdict was handed out almost in secret."

The decision had initially been set for Wednesday and was postponed to Sunday. The lawyers went on Sunday but were told to leave because there would be no verdict, Eid said.

"We were then very surprised to hear that he (Nabil) was sentenced to three years," said Eid, who heads the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI).

The verdict is likely to cause concern among Egypt's large network of bloggers who had hoped Mubarak's overthrow in a popular uprising would usher in a new era of freedom of expression.

Reporters Without Borders condemned the ruling, saying Nabil had become "the new government's first prisoner of conscience."

"The methods used by the Egyptian military do not seem to have evolved since Hosni Mubarak's fall," the group's secretary general Jean-Francois Julliard said.

"They show the degree to which the military still cannot be criticised and are still a taboo subject. A civilian should not be tried by a military court," he said.

"Egypt has begun a process of democratisation and it should now be possible to criticise the armed forces like any other component of the state," Julliard said.

Last week, Human Rights Watch called for the charges to be dropped.

It said Egypt's armed forces "should drop all charges against (Nabil) for his Internet posts critical of the military."

"This trial sets a dangerous precedent at a time when Egypt is trying to transition away from the abuses of the Mubarak era," said HRW's Middle East and North Africa director Sarah Leah Whitson.

It was the first trial of a blogger by a military court since the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces assumed control after Mubarak resigned on February 11 following 18 straight days of anti-regime protests.

Military police arrested Nabil, a campaigner against conscription, on March 28 after he wrote blogs criticising the military, HRW said.

His posts and comments on social networking website Facebook were used as evidence against him in the trial, HRW quoted his lawyers as saying.

Last year, a military court sentenced another blogger to six months in prison for publishing "military secrets" after he posted instructions on Facebook on how to enlist in the armed forces, his lawyers said at the time.

Another blogger was acquitted after publishing a post on alleged patronage in a military academy.

The military, which has pledged to hand power to a civilian government once parliamentary and presidential elections are held, has tried and sentenced dozens of people in recent weeks for crimes such as robbery and assault.

The trials are speedy and can result in harsh sentences, rights groups say.

[AlicetheKurious]

Egypt blogger gets 3 years for criticising military: lawyer

A military court has jailed a blogger for three years for criticising the armed forces that have ruled Egypt since president Hosni Mubarak's ouster in February, in a decision slammed by rights groups on Monday.
...

"We were then very surprised to hear that he (Nabil) was sentenced to three years," said Eid, who heads the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI).

I'd be the last person to defend military trials for civilians and I'm sure not a fan of the Armed Forces Council right now, but this Maikel Nabil is excruciatingly hard for me to sympathize with and he's hardly on a par with the peaceful demonstrators whose rights even under Egyptian law (let alone under international law) have been violated.

For one thing, he's not a "conscientious objector" as he portrays himself to be. First, according to the Armed Forces Council, he did present himself for his physical, but was rejected as unfit for military service on security grounds. So he's a liar. The fact that the author of the article didn't see fit to mention that, strikes me as odd indeed.

Second, our "Maikel" uses his blog as a platform to exhort other Egyptian young men to violate the law on mandatory military service, and to add insult to injury, fills it with gratuitous and bizarre insults against Egypt's armed forces, interspersed with his effusive praise of Israel, something that has been much exploited by the delighted Israeli media. This self-described pacifist also justifies Israel's rather bloodthirsty Operation Cast Lead as a "normal" response and says:

"Take the war on Gaza for example (Operation Cast Lead) two years ago. Hamas started it. They refused to hold elections in Gaza and took control of the regime. They planned a dictatorial and fundamentalist regime. They refused to speak to Israel, fired rockets at it and caused it to defend itself." (previous link)

Rather selective "pacifism", no?

At least the Egyptian army doesn't enforce an illegal military and racist colonial occupation, nor are draftees expected to starve captive populations and murder little babies. Yet Nabeel has no problem at all with Israel's war criminal army, only with Egypt's defensive armed forces, who happen to be at peace? It seems his "love" of Israel has less to do with his pacifism and more to do with a calculating, opportunistic ploy to catapult himself to the kind of adulation and money that tend to be showered on Arabs who choose a career based on publicly expressing their "love" for Israel. If so, he seems to have miscalculated and wagered a little too optimistically on his zionist supporters as he wore out the patience of the Egyptian Armed Forces.

It so happens that by agitating for Egyptian youths to avoid their mandatory military service, he committed a criminal act that happens to fall under the jurisdiction of the military court. In any case, the court records are available because it was not a closed trial and the Armed Forces Council has stated unambiguously that Nabeel hired not one, but several lawyers to represent him and they were given a full opportunity to contest the charges. I don't know whether Gamal Eid was one of the lawyers hired by Nabeel, the article doesn't say. It's interesting that he's the only one quoted, though.

Also: Egypt has a number of excellent human rights organizations, most led by dedicated and brave individuals who are quite well known and widely respected. They're the ones people knew to call when they or their relatives suffered any abuse of their human or legal rights, knowing that these individuals would respond urgently at any time of the day or night and fight tooth and nail on their behalf, sometimes at the cost of being persecuted themselves. They defend anyone regardless of ideology or gender or religious affiliation or socioeconomic status, as long as their rights have been violated. I hadn't heard of Gamal Eid before, but the "Arabic Network for Human Rights Information" sure rang a bell -- ah, yes! There it is:

Soros backs Egypt weekly to give Arab bloggers exposure

AFP

Saturday, 3 April 2010

A weekly magazine aiming to link Arab bloggers with politicians and the elderly was launched in Egypt on Thursday at the initiative of a women's group backed by US billionaire George Soros.

The weekly Wasla - or "The Link" - is being touted as a first for the Arab world, with plans for articles by bloggers as a way of giving them a wider readership.

It is published by the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information and financially supported by the Open Society Institute created by Soros, said ANHRI director Gamal Eid.

"We want to challenge our audience, and open its eyes to the changes society is experiencing, particularly through youths and blogs in which they appear," he said.

"The goal is to show the older generation that certain things exist," he said, adding as an example: "Whether we agree or not, gay communities are a reality in Egyptian and Arab societies."

The 16-page weekly will include two pages in English and will have an initial print run of 1,000 copies for distribution to political, academic, and literary circles. An electronic version will also be available. Link

On a purely personal note, you know what really gets me about this Maikel (it's actually his way of spelling Michael, but whatever)? He's a useful idiot, at the very least: because he's a Copt and at the same time so incredibly, willfully obnoxious verging on treasonous, he can be used to make Copts look bad; because he falsely portrays himself as a pacifist and conscientious objector, he can be used to discredit sincere conscientious objectors; because he falsely claims that his case does not belong in a military court when under the law it does, he discredits the many civilians who are illegitimately and in fact illegally even under Egyptian law, tried in military courts.

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of individuals who have suffered severe and genuine abuse because they dared to speak out on behalf of their own, their people's and their nation's rights. I personally think it's insulting to them to focus the spotlight on the likes of "Maikel", but people are free to choose their battles and their poster boys, I guess.

[Peachtree Pam]

But hey, he's not in a coma yet...

Ousted Egyptian president Mubarak hospitalized


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/12/o ... pitalized/


By Reuters
Tuesday, April 12th, 2011 -- 2:05 pm

CAIRO (Reuters) - Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, 82, was admitted to hospital on Tuesday, state television reported, two days after he was summoned to take part in a probe by the public prosecutor.

Mubarak, ousted on February 11 after 30 years in office, was summoned by the public prosecutor on Sunday as part of investigations into the killing of protesters and embezzlement of public funds. Mubarak denied any wrongdoing in a recorded message broadcast on Al Arabiya television on Sunday.

Mubarak has suffered from health problems in recent years and went to Germany for gall bladder surgery in March 2010.

"Mubarak entered Sharm el-Sheikh international hospital for treatment," state television reported.

The website of the state-owned publisher of Al Ahram newspaper said the president might not have to go to Cairo to attend the investigation because of his admission to hospital.

Mubarak had vowed to die in Egypt when he addressed the country's 80 million people shortly before he stepped down in the wake of mass protests.

Al Ahram newspaper reported earlier on Tuesday that Mubarak had received the summons to appear before a Cairo court for questioning and that special security was being arranged.

It quoted Interior Minister Mansour el-Essawy as saying Mubarak would give testimony on accusations directed against him at a court on the eastern outskirts of Cairo. It did not say when he would appear or what the accusations were.